Rantau by-election: 96 per cent turnout of early voters

SEREMBAN: Early voting for the Rantau state by-election, which closed at noon today, recorded a 96 per cent turnout, said the Election Commission in a statement.

Voting was conducted from 8 am at two polling stations – at the Sendayan air base and the Rantau police station.

The Rantau state constituency has 20,926 registered voters, with 20,804 of them ordinary voters, four absentee voters and the remaining 118 are early voters, with eight of them voting through post.

The Rantau by-election is the seventh after the 14th General Election (GE14) held on May 9, 2018, the others being the by-elections for the Sungai Kandis state seat on Aug 4 last year; Balakong and Seri Setia state seats on Sept 8 last year; Port Dickson parliamentary seat on Oct 13 last year; Cameron Highlands parliamentary seat on Jan 26 this year and Semenyih state seat on March 2 this year.

The Rantau by-election, polling for which is on April 13, is a four-cornered contest among anaesthetist Dr S. Streram of Pakatan Harapan (PH); UMNO deputy president and former Negeri Sembilan menteri besar Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan of Barisan Nasional (BN) and two independent candidates, namely R. Malarvizhi, a housewife, and Mohd Nor Yassin, a former lecturer.

The by-election has been necessitated by the Federal Court dismissal of an appeal filed by Mohamad to set aside the Nov 16 Seremban Election Court decision declaring his unopposed victory in the 14th General Election (GE14) null and void.

In GE14, Mohamad was declared the winner of the seat after Dr Streram was prohibited from entering the nomination centre to submit his nomination papers because he did not have a pass issued by the EC.